Quick Hits: September 4, 2023
1) Last night, Jason Myrtetus and I recorded the weekly Mondays with Meltzer episode of Flyers Daily. The main topic was creating an "all-underrated" Flyers starting lineup through team history. Next thing we knew, we'd been talking for an hour and five minute. So we're splitting the discussion up into two episodes. In Part 1, we discuss the primary objectives for the 2023-2024 season, which Flyers players are under the most pressure entering the season, Matvei Michkov being a heathy scratch in SKA St. Petersburg's regular season opener on Saturday and our choices for the most underrated forwards in Flyers' history. In Part 2, we talk about defensemen and goalies. Part 1 is 36 minutes. To listen,
click here.
2) SKA St. Petersburg is back in action on Monday among eight games on the KHL schedule today. SKA will oppose Lada Togliotti. Michkov is not in the SKA lineup as he remains a healthy scratch. SKA's head coach Roman Rotenberg said after Saturday's opening game on Saturday that Michkov would be in the lineup soon but only as the 13th forward (thereby receiving very limited ice time).
Dinamo Minski is on the road today, playing Vityaz. It's believed that Flyers prospect Alexei Kolosov will make his first start of the 2023-24 season in net for Dinamo.
Ivan Fedotov served as the backup goalie for CSKA Moscow in Sunday's game. Although he did not play in the game, he was ineligible to dress as the backup per the IIHF sanctions.
3) September 4 Flyers Alumni birthdays: Linus Högberg (1998), John Vanbiesbrouck (1963).
4) Today in Flyers History; September 4, 1979
On Sept. 4, 1979, a long-forgotten but interesting mini-saga in Flyers history came to an end when the organization traded forward Dennis Sobchuk to the Detroit Red Wings for a 1981 fourth-round pick (Dave Michayluk).
Five years earlier, Sobchuk had been one of the most dominant players to come down the pike in Canadian junior hockey. Boasting a combination of good size (6-foot-2) and good hands, he tore apart the Western league for 123 points at age 17, 147 points at 18 and 146 points at 19. Under the NHL Draft rules of the time, players could not be drafted until they were 20.
The fledgling World Hockey Association, looking to gain any competitive advantage it could get in its uphill (and ultimately failed) battle to compete with the NHL, tried to get the jump on the NHL by signing top underage players who were not yet eligible to be drafted by National Hockey League teams. The most notable examples from an historical standpoint were Wayne Gretzky, Mark Howe (who was joined by his father, Gordie Howe and brother Marty Howe on the Houston Aeros), and Mark Messier. However, the first underager to sign in the WHA was Sobchuk, who signed with the Phoenix Roadrunners.
If not for his unavailability, Sobchuk would have been an NHL first-round pick when he finally became eligible for the NHL Draft in 1974. Instead, he slid down to the fifth round. The defending Stanley Cup champion Flyers rolled the dice on being able to pry Sobchuk away from the WHA and selected him with the 89th overall pick.
Flyers general manager Keith Allen had an excellent track record of getting the players he wanted, and for preventing WHA teams from signing away Philadelphia players. The one guy he couldn't get was Sobchuk, whose WHA career began with seasons of 32, 32, and 44 goals along with 77, 72 and 96 points for Phoenix and the Cincinnati Stingers. For several years, Allen and the Flyers tried unsuccessfully to bring Sobchuk to Philadelphia.
Sobchuk's career path leveled off after an injury, however. After a couple of ineffective seasons, the Flyers' interest cooled off on him. Nevertheless, after the NHL merged with the WHA, the Flyers exercised their draft rights to the player in the 1979 Reclaim Draft. By now, the intent was not to keep the player but to get something back for him.
After reclaiming him, the Flyers left Sobchuk exposed to the 1979 Expansion Draft,but added him to the protected list after Bernie Johnson was taken off the roster. The Flyers then subsequently traded Sobchuk to Detroit. He went on to play 35 NHL games for the Red Wings and Quebec Nordiques, posting five goals and 11 points.
4) Happy Labo(u)r Day to all HockeyBuzz readers in the U.S. and Canada!
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